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Are debates useful for promoting veganism? Here is interesting e-mail by Steve Weigand: -----------------------
Logic doesn't win many people over. They first need to be "ready" to listen to logic, and that won't happen without something penetrating through to their minds. A positive image is very effective for doing just that, opening their minds to the idea of veganism. For those that are ready to listen to logic, public debates can be very effective at winning people over. Those taking the anti-vegan side probably won't change their minds, but the silent people listening in to the debate might if they're ready to change.

I think factual information and reasoning are at least as important as image in this battle. Most people I run into have the following beliefs in common: 1) Veganism doesn't provide all of the nutrients needed to support life. You need at least some meat in order to stay well.
2) Children shouldn't be fed a vegan diet, especially not babies.
3) There's no overwhelming proof that a vegan diet is any healthier than a meat-based one. It's a fad diet unsupported by science.
4) Athletes, especially bodybuilders, can’t get enough protein on a vegan diet.
5) Vegans are sickly looking, thin, anemic, and pale skinned.
6) Food animals aren't being mistreated. Modern farming methods take better care of the animals than ever before.
7) Eating meat is no more wasteful than eating vegetables, since the earth is a closed eco-system.
8) Plants can feel pain, too. Vegans are hypocrites. As a community, vegans need to get the facts out there so that people don't continue spreading this misinformation. Misinformation closes the doors that positive images open. What I mean by that is this. Picture a 19 year old college student who sees that her favorite celebrity is vegan. She listens to the celebrity talk about the fact that it's the healthiest diet out there and that the animals in the meat industry are being treated with cruelty, and that's when she decides to try going vegan. So she tells her friends and family what she's planning on doing. And with that, she gets blasted by tons and tons of anti-vegan misinformation and decides to go back to eating meat. Her friends and family genuinely believe they're telling her the facts and that they're doing the right thing to help her. They don't know any better, because they don't really have the facts understood. And so that's why I say that image is nothing without the supporting facts and reasoning behind veganism. -----------------------
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